Dana's Story
by Alix Cohen
Summary: How Hungary found a human girl in the Soviet House, and built an empire with her help. Yaoi Agents AU. AusHun, GerIta, JapanxOC, domestic abuse by Prussia.
1. The girl

_Moscow__, 1985_

The girl didn't belong there. Hungary could tell. For one thing, the girl was human; there were never any humans in Russia's House. He had enough Nations working for him these days that he didn't need human servants.

For another, every time Hungary saw her, she was in the same room, and she never seemed to leave it. This by itself didn't worry Hungary; Poland never left his room either. What worried Hungary was the third thing: the room she never left was Prussia's bedroom.

This made sense to Hungary when Latvia confided to her that Prussia had a new girlfriend. Besides Russia's sisters, one of whom he protected fiercely, and the other of whom only had eyes for Russia himself, Hungary was the only female Soviet Republic. Prussia's new girlfriend could be no one but this girl.

Prussia was not kind to women; Hungary had learned this the hard way barely a decade ago. He just didn't care enough about anyone besides himself to treat them well. Hungary resolved to speak to the girl as soon as she had the chance.

That chance did not come for several days. Every time she passed Prussia's room, the door was closed, or he was there, or both. Finally, though, the door was ajar and the room quiet. Hungary tiptoed inside.

The girl was there, making the bed. When she noticed Hungary, her eyes widened and she backed up against the wardrobe. She was East German, barely eighteen years old, very thin and rather plain (Prussia liked plain girls; they made him seem more handsome), and terrified.  
>"It's all right," Hungary said, in the same tone she'd used long ago with a homesick Italy. "I'm not going to hurt you." The girl shook her head.<p>

"Listen," said Hungary. "I know what…Gilbert?" The girl nodded. "I know what Gilbert's doing to you." Hungary held out a hand. "I can stop him. I can keep him from hurting you. Come with me and you'll be safe." The girl stopped trembling, came closer—

—and then a shout echoed from the hallway. "Dana! Dana, where are you?" The girl hid under the bed, and Hungary turned around as Prussia entered the room. "Hello, Liz," he sneered. "Come to apologize?"

Hungary ignored his taunt. "A human, Gilbert? Really? That's low. Doing to her what you did to me—"

Prussia brushed her aside, striding over to the bed. "The awesome me can do whatever he wants," he crowed.

"You're disgusting, Gilbert, and I'm putting an end to this."

"How? She's my citizen. And you don't even have a—" Prussia stopped suddenly, cut off by a voice Hungary had never heard before.

"Nein, Herr Gilbert," said Dana, coming out of hiding and taking Hungary's hand. "I will go with Miss Liz."

* * *

><p>"Please call me Elizaveta," Hungary said as she gave the girl a mug of coffee. Dana nodded, then burst into tears.<p>

Hungary sat down next to her and gave her a hug. "It'll be all right," she assured the girl. "I'm here, I'll protect you, don't worry." Dana grew calm eventually, and took a sip of her coffee.

"Are you sure he won't come for me?" she asked shakily.

"Of course. Gilbert may not look like it, but he's scared of me. Especially in a kitchen." Dana looked up, puzzled. Hungary took a frying pan out of a cabinet. "He sees me with this," she said, swinging it up onto her shoulder, "and runs the other way." Dana smiled weakly and drank her coffee.

"We've always been enemies, ever since we were children," Hungary explained, sitting across the table from Dana with her own cup of coffee. "He would swagger around pretending he was the king of the world. My response was usually to send him home with arrows in his ass." She laughed. Dana gaped.

It hit Hungary that she should be more careful what she told Dana, and she changed the subject. "Eventually, my father shipped me off to learn how to be a lady. After that, I ended up working for a guy named Roderich Edelstein for a few years…and then we got married." She grew wistful. "It started as a marriage of convenience—for him, that is—but we loved each other in the end. We had a son…a wonderful child…" She trailed off.

"What happened to them?" Dana asked.

Hungary drank her coffee, then continued. "They're in the West, they were…visiting his relatives when the Wall went up." She felt bad lying to the girl, but could she really say that she and Austria had been divorced for sixty years, and married for centuries before that? "I was trapped in Budapest, on the wrong side of the wall. Then Ivan, who owns this house, came around, looking for…" his new territories. "Anyway, I came here for work, and it turned out Gilbert was here too.

"He's a cousin of Roderich's, and we thought we were all each other had of the old days. I tried loving him, but it turned out that he was the same swaggering idiot that he always was. And I was the same tomboy. One day I finally had enough, hit him with a frying pan, and walked out."

Dana looked up. "So now you protect others from him," she said slowly. "He brought me here, he promised my parents he'd find me work, I have younger brothers, and there wasn't enough money…and he was so nice, when we got here. I didn't realize what he was really like until it was too late, and then I was too scared to do anything. Thank you for saving me from him." Hungary nodded.

Then Dana cautiously asked the one question that Hungary had been hoping she wouldn't. "Miss Elizaveta, I thought I heard you mention something to Herr Gilbert about humans. Are you not human?"

Dammit. Well, it wasn't like the girl was going home anytime soon, and she'd find out just from living here long enough. She chose her words carefully. "We're human in all the ways that matter. It's just that… Here, let's use a metaphor. Imagine this house is the Soviet Union." It was, in fact; but Dana didn't need to know that. "Then Ivan, who owns the house, is Russia, and the rest of us work for him. Gilbert's East Germany. We usually call him Prussia; but I just call him a pain in the ass." Dana almost smiled at that. "And I am the Republic of Hungary."

* * *

><p><em>Budapest, 1989<em>

Dana had become Hungary's right hand in Moscow. She'd learned the truth about the nations from Latvia, who didn't know any better than to tell her, and after that, Hungary kept her extra close. When Hungary left the Soviet house, Dana came with her, to act as her "secretary." This was more work than it sounded like: in addition to taking phone calls and answering letters, Dana found herself doing a share of the housework. She didn't mind, though; it was good work, and she could send money home.

Hungary also began to teach Dana a couple of the tricks Nations used to defend themselves. The most useful was an almost-magical way of hiding a weapon in plain sight. It came in especially handy one summer day, when Prussia came to visit and found Dana working in the garden.

"Hey, Dana," he called. She ignored him until he was right behind her.

"Hey, Dana, come back to Berlin with me. It's okay," he said as she stood up, "the awesome me has taken care of everything. We can go home!"

Dana actually thought about it for a moment. She turned around, looked at Prussia, and realized that she could look him in the eye. Then she grabbed the frying pan she had hidden behind her back, and hit him on the temple. He went down and stayed down.

* * *

><p><em>Berlin, 1989<em>

The wall was coming down. Hungary went to East Germany, to see it. Dana didn't come, and Hungary didn't blame her.

She pretended not to see Prussia, but slipped one hand into her back pocket as she passed him. He kept a safe distance, and neither spoke as they watched shouting humans tear down the wall with hammers and shovels.

It was more than a wall, this concrete barrier through the heart of Germany. It marked Russia's property line, and kept Soviet citizens in. And it was being torn down from both sides.

Hungary and Prussia walked through the wall when a gap was large enough, and found Germany himself standing on the other side. Prussia shook Germany's hand, then decided he was not too awesome to give his brother a hug.

There were other Nations there, watching the humans at work and congratulating each other, but Hungary's eye was caught by one who said nothing at all.

Austria held out his arms to her, and they surprised themselves by embracing, and then kissing, in the streetlight where anyone could see. He realized it first, and pulled away, clasping her forearms in a belated gentlemanly greeting. (Too late for America, who whistled.)

"Have you been well?" Austria asked.

"Better now," she said. "You?"

He smiled. She knew he'd missed her as much as she'd missed him.

Austria offered Hungary his arm; she took it, and they walked away towards Vienna.


	2. Two men

**A/N:** Note on my portrayal of Prussia in this fic: I understand it's a stretch in a lot of people's minds to call him abusive. However, he is extremely callous and careless in his treatment of other people, and this story is written from the perspective of Prussia's worst enemy and a victim of his callousness. From other perspectives, Prussia is merely a trickster; I write that too.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled story.

* * *

><p><em>Vienna<em>_, December 2009_

The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall had come and gone. Hungary's life was almost back to normal-though when in her life it had been normal before, she couldn't say. She saw Austria regularly, Italy a little less regularly, and Prussia almost never; she had joined the European Union, but kept her own currency, and was looking forward to a turn at the presidency; and her domestic politics were the stablest they'd been in fifty years.

Dana had returned to Germany, married, divorced, and come back at the respectable age of fifty to work for Hungary. And life went on as it always had; and, Dana and Hungary were both sure, always would.

Always, that is, until the day Hungary got to Vienna too late to protect her friend and neighbor from a French frontal assault. She saw what was happening, and her instinct was to rush in and stop it-but then she looked again, and realized she enjoyed what she was watching.

France was being his normal perverted self, and doing unspeakable things to Austria-what was different about this, that her body was reacting to it? She shrugged off the question, reached behind her back, and found a camera in her hand instead of a frying pan. She snapped a couple of pictures, then realized what she was doing, took out her frying pan, and knocked France senseless.  
>Austria was shaking as he thanked her for saving him; he didn't notice that Hungary was trembling too.<p>

What had she discovered?

* * *

><p>The first person she told was Dana, as soon as she got back to Budapest. Seeing the pictures, Dana shook her head. "Men don't get enough out of us, they have to fuck each other too?" Hungary knew where Dana was coming from. She also knew she should be mad as hell at France, and at herself for not stopping him sooner. But she wasn't. She wanted more of whatever it was that she had found. Then she realized that there was another Nation who could help her.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Tokyo<em>

Japan insisted on serving tea, and making a production out of it. Hungary sat on her cushion and resisted the urge to drum her fingers on the table. When he was done with his ritual, she told him her story, and he listened with infuriating patience. But he did finally give her an answer.  
>"My people call it <em>yaoi<em>, or Boys Love," he explained. "It is modestly popular here, mostly among young women—but of course you understand it, as it is an export of yours." He was right. And now that Hungary thought about it, he was probably a fan.

Another long silence followed, during which a human girl, about twenty years old, came in briefly to clear the table.

"One does, of course, realize," said Japan after a while, "that an interest in Boys Love is valuable to understanding politics as it is conducted between Nations." Hungary took her time puzzling out what he meant. Yes, sex was important to their politics; who a Nation slept with strongly implied who his allies were (with the exception of Sweden, who was stubbornly monogamous, and Hungary herself), but that couldn't be everything Japan meant. He was implying...

He was implying that Hungary's new fascination with _yaoi_ could lead to her gaining serious political power-to predict alliances, and measure their strength, in addition to blackmail, which seemed to be second nature to her government.

"Yes," she said. "It can be priceless. But I'm sure I can't discover the best uses for this knowledge on my own." She was doing her best to sound Japanese. Please let him get it...

He bowed slightly without getting up. "Consider me your ally in the pursuit of knowledge, Hungary-san."

Hungary bowed back, a little awkwardly, then grinned as an idea hit her. "Does this include facts with which you are, ah, _personally_ acquainted?"

Japan's smile disappeared—he was startled—then he collected himself and replied, "It would only be fair, if my…allies do not object." Hungary's grin widened.

The girl skittered back into the room, bowed, and knelt at the table. "This is my Escort, Toyoda Yamanada-chan," Japan said. "I trust you are familiar with the concept." Hungary was, though she had never yet met an Escort, despite the program having been in place for at least ten years; for those ten years she'd kept mostly to herself, and she and Austria had escorted each other to state events.

Japan continued. "She has agreed to act as liaison between us, to ensure the sharing of our knowledge. I will send her to you in the spring, to begin our work."

* * *

><p>Hungary left Japan's House feeling much better than she had arriving. By the time she got home, her grin was more cheerful than devious.<p>

"I've got a job for you," she said to Dana as soon as they saw each other.

"What's that?"

"Yaoi collection. And don't worry—you'll have an assistant starting in the spring." She strode on into the kitchen, leaving Dana bemused. (There's only so far that humans can understand Nations.)


	3. A family

_Budapest__, February 2010_

Over the next few months, Hungary began getting presents. Around the New Year, Hungary got a fancy video camera in the mail. It had been sent anonymously…from Tokyo, and the note read "For getting started."

On Valentine's Day, she received another almost-anonymous gift. The postman handed it to her in person, and told her it was from "a man with glasses and one hair sticking up." There was only one person it could be, and she found it incredibly sweet. Austria was thinking of her, and though he had always had trouble expressing emotion, she knew that his Valentine's Day gift meant he wanted her back. About time, too; they had spent twenty years making only social visits. That evening, she called him and left him a message: "I love you too."

He responded by inviting her over for dinner, and hinting rather awkwardly that he wanted her to spend the night. In the morning, he thanked her for coming back, and she was happy she had.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later, she got a call from Italy, who asked her for help with a personal problem. They met at a café in Venice, where Italy told her about his Valentine's Day and the strange way Germany had acted. "And I haven't seen him since then, ve...do you think something's wrong with him?"<p>

Hungary shrugged. "Probably not. It sounds like he's confused about his feelings for you, and he's worried about whether you feel the same way." She paused. "_Do_ you, Italy?" Italy considered for about half a second, then nodded.

"I don't want Germany to worry," he said. "But Miss Hungary...ve..." he trailed off.

"Yes?" Hungary prompted.

"What about Holy Rome?" he said morosely. "I promised I'd wait for him. Prussia says he's dead, but..."

"Prussia says that, does he?" Hungary interrupted. "Italy, my dear, I think Prussia knows more than he's telling. I think he knows what happened to the Holy Roman Empire...and I'm going to make him tell me."

Italy had cheered up noticeably by the time she left. On returning to Budapest, she told Dana what she intended to do, and Dana was more than happy to help.

* * *

><p><em>Outside Germany's House, three days later<em>

Prussia was being his usual awesome self, but even better. Now his awesomeness was available online. His blog had hundreds of followers (who says former Nations have to fade away?). After updating, he decided to go outside and get some awesome fresh air. His little yellow bird, the one that his fans had discovered, settled on top of his head as he left the house. He'd decided to call it Gilbird, like they'd suggested. A truly awesome name.

Gilbird noticed something strange on the path behind Germany's house, and fluttered down to investigate. Bending over, Prussia saw that the bird was pecking at a piece of bread or something that someone had dropped on the ground. Then it lost interest briefly, before spotting another one and hopping off to pick it up. Prussia picked up the first one. It was a crouton.

There was a trail of croutons on the path, and Gilbird hopped from one to the next. Prussia followed. After about five croutons, he started to suspect that something wasn't quite right.  
>His suspicions were confirmed when he turned a corner and found his psycho human ex waiting for him, with a frying pan and a coil of rope.<p>

* * *

><p>Prussia was actually quite ready to tell Hungary what he knew about Holy Rome's fate: he'd found the boy, defeated and delirious, and decided to take care of him and make him a sidekick. He'd even given him an awesome new name, to go with the land he now represented. But the boy had ended up as a boring foot soldier, following rules and orders and eventually taking Prussia's own land away from him. Despite all this, Prussia still considered him a brother.<p>

He said all this before Hungary had a chance to hit him on the head with her frying pan. She then hit him a couple of times for not having told her sooner.

The next day, she met Italy for lunch again and gave him the good news. He was excited at first. "Does Germany know?"

There is no such thing as a stupid question, even coming from Italy. "Not yet," Hungary said, "and that's why he's been so confused lately. But I have a plan to remind him."

Italy listened attentively as she explained. It sounded like a lot of fun to him, especially if Hungary's plan meant he'd get Holy Rome back. He had only one problem with it. "Ve~do you have to take pictures?"

"Of course I do! Won't you want them for a scrapbook someday?"

Italy considered. "Ve...all right. But don't let Germany see you."

"I won't," Hungary promised.

* * *

><p><em>Berlin<em>_, late February 2010_

Germany had had a rough day. First there was the meeting with France about the euro zone's financial problems. They'd never gotten along anyway, and since France wanted to bail Greece out while Germany insisted that he should fix his own mistakes, they'd gotten nowhere. Then there was the meeting with his states about taxes. Nobody wanted taxes raised; Germany finally had to threaten global financial collapse to get them to listen. The ulcer he'd gotten in the war was coming back.

Then there was Prussia. A pain in the neck most days, and today he wouldn't stop whining about Hungary. God only knew what kind of trouble he'd been getting into. And on top of that...these memories. Ever since everything went wrong on Valentine's Day, he'd been having flashbacks. He didn't really remember his childhood, but he knew there was a girl...she was a maid in the old house, and...

As Germany climbed his front steps, lost in unwanted thoughts, Italy opened the door. This wasn't strange; Italy had often shown up at Germany's house uninvited before Valentine's Day.  
>What Germany found strange was that Italy was wearing a dress. Even stranger, he recognized the dress. The girl in the old house had worn it—but she couldn't have—this was Italy—but—she—could she—had he—was he—she—<p>

"Italy, is that you?" he whispered, in a language no one had spoken in centuries. Then he fainted.

When he came to, he was lying on his front porch with Italy kneeling next to him, still wearing that familiar dress and kerchief..."Italy?" he gasped.

Italy's face lit up. "Holy Rome?" Germany thought about it.

"I was, once," he said slowly. "And you were the girl in Vienna." It all made sense now.

Italy nodded. "Yes, I was, but then you left and my voice changed and I surprised Mr. Austria by being a boy and then I became independent and found my big brother again, and then we had the Great War and then I met you, Germany!" His eyes were wide open and shining with tears. "Ve~and Germany, I'm so glad you're Holy Rome!"

Germany's attempt to sit up was cut short by Italy's leaning forward to kiss him on the lips. Germany kissed back, surprising himself. Italy heard a camera click somewhere in the house behind him, and then the back door slammed, but he didn't think about it too hard.

* * *

><p>Amanda came to live with Hungary and Dana early in March, and together the three of them worked out the basics of what promised to be a worldwide yaoi-collecting enterprise. It would appear to be a secret agency within the Hungarian government, run by Hungary herself out of her House. Dana (and perhaps Japan) would work from inside the House; Hungary, Amanda, and whatever Escorts they could recruit would be field agents, installing and manning cameras all over the world and sending the videos back to Budapest.<p>

Amanda went home in June, and returned in August, with Japan and a van full of hardware that they began installing in Hungary's basement.

Over the summer, Hungary became aware that England had found himself a new Escort. His last one had broken up with him abruptly when she learned about the Nations, particularly England's Special Relationship with America. He'd found this new girl so soon afterwards that it caught Hungary's attention.

Hungary found her online: Sarah Armstrong, master's degree in linguistics from Pittsburgh, administrative position in Lord Arthur Kirkland's staff, et cetera et cetera. She was multilingual, clever, had high self-esteem...normally. Amanda reported that she was depressed and angry as a result of learning about the Special Relationship. Here was a great recruitment opportunity. Hungary set Dana to convincing Sarah, and then began her own research on another prize: a girl she could turn into a proper Escort for France.

* * *

><p><em>Continued in "Sarah's Story"<em>


End file.
